Detection of Product Ring Plugging through acoustic emission monitoring saves catastrophic failure
Sector
Renewable energy
Application
Pelletor 5 [Critical]
Fault Predicted
Anomaly with a potential to cause weeks of downtime
"Shutdowns can cost Pinnacle upto $10 per minute. Early stage notification helped the plant personnel decide and take preventive action to reduce the load and keep running the equipment for 6 more hours which saved unplanned downtime cost. Moreover, it saved them from any catastrophic failure which could lead to weeks of downtime and cost thousands of dollars."
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RotationLF has several features including:
1. Vibration, Acoustic Emission & Temperature,
Humidity & RPM Online Diagnosis
2. Fault detection
Once installed, the strong battery-powered wireless sensors started monitoring pumps and motors and sent data to our SaaS-based platform through an encrypted & secured network using Edge and Cloud computing. As and when data was received, the RotationLF platform performed data analysis using highly sophisticated algorithms.
Approximately 1 month after the sensors were installed, the system alerted Pinnacle that fault had been detected on the equipment named Pelletor 5, specifying the reason for notification shown in the image on the right. The acoustic emission pattern depicted in the below plot is indicative of an early-stage failure.
THE RESULT
The RotationLF analytics sensed & detected the anomaly in the pattern and alerted Pinnacle plant staff about this unusual trend automatically through mobile text and email alert as shown above. Formation of the roll failure was detected hours before the equipment was stopped for maintenance. This gave plant personnel valuable time to organize maintenance activities. After the shutdown and completion of maintenance, acoustic emission levels returned to normal.
As per Pinnacle, 1 minute of shutdown can cost them up to $10. Early stage notification helped the plant personnel decide and take preventive action to reduce the load and keep running the equipment for 6 hours which saved unplanned downtime cost. Moreover, it saved them from any catastrophic failure which could lead to weeks of downtime and cost thousands of dollars.
ABOUT NANOPRECISE
Nanoprecise specializes in the implementation of Artificial Intelligence and IoT technology for predictive asset maintenance and condition monitoring. Our timely and accurate diagnosis of machine faults provides our clients insights that allow them to make decisions that will save them considerable time and resources. Nanoprecise is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada with branches in Bangalore, India; San Diego, USA, and Newcastle, UK. We have managed to establish ourselves as a trusted solution provider in the asset management industry.
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OVERVIEW
Pinnacle currently operates 7 industrial wood pellet production facilities with a combined production capacity over 1.4 million metric tons and are well positioned to support this rapidly growing demand by constructing their new capacity.
CHALLENGE
Traditional measurement tools are ineffective when it comes to slow rotating equipment. There may arise faults like Bearing Failure, Ring Plugging, Gear Tooth Crack and many more that can lead to the shutdown of machines. 1 minute of downtime costs the company $10. Ring Plugging is a very common and frequent issue faced by the Pinnacle Pellet due to diverse feed quality into the machines.
Product ring plugging can be detected as sound levels increase in speci c roller bearings
SOLUTION
We proposed our RotationLF system under which we installed wireless sensors as a part of a pilot project on multiple types of equipment.
Interested in more details? Download the full case study here